I continue to be amazed at how many people remember Annabel. St. Elizabeth (our home hospital) still continues to welcome us and make us so comfortable. This is where we prefer to stay because it is so close to home. They tell me all the time if she needs labs just bring her up, since they know her vein so well and all the Picc team is always ready and waiting for her. The nurses continue to be so sweet to Annabel and myself. Even when we get transferred to other hospitals they call days later and check on Annabel. I know they are busy and they find the time to check up on her. This last hospital that was new to us, Memorial Hermann in Houston, was so welcoming. I have to say I had all kinds of anxiety built up as to how I would have to justify why we do things for Annabel due to her Trisomy 18 diagnosis. But of course, this never happened. Not one time did I feel like they didn't think she was the most important patient in their hospital. When we were being transferred on Monday evening to Texas Children's Hospital they formed a line as she was leaving the floor with nurses, aide, charge nurse and residents and all said what a sweet patient Annabel was to deal with. They talked of her beauty and how joyful she was to treat. I was touched to say the least. Our stay here at Texas Children's has been very good. There has been great communication and everything that needed to be done was done in a timely manner. We were so lucky to have a resident that graduated with Tara (how is that for making me feel old) and she was on top of getting everything done. She was very aggressive about getting Annabel into surgery last night. Since she was an add on, it was very likely she could have been bumped until today, but she wasn't due to her following up. I think she is going to be a wonderful doctor very soon. Also our attending (our first encounter with dr. L)was one of the best ever. Everything he said would be done, was! Also, her anesthesiologist, was very amazed that she was full trisomy 18 and had just turned 6. He said that is something you just don't see. I knew he was touched by her and would take good care of her when she went back. So all of this said, it makes for a much less stressed out momma. My prayer is to take Annabel home and pray for these infections to go away and that it be a long time until she needs another line. They reminded me that Annabel is very lucky. The three she has had 2 from yeast and this last one Serratia (gram-negative rod) are all considered life threatening. God continues to heal Annabel each time quickly but at this point no long term side-effects of these infections. So I probably won't blog again today since we are all busy unpacking and getting meds and schedules in place. If anything changes I will come back to the blog and post. Thank you thank you for always carrying us through!
